Cut Halo 2 creatures, enemies and ambient life

This page discusses elements of deleted material and cut content. Some information on the page is sourced from game files and may not be verifiable through external sources. Where possible, such information should be clearly-marked and replaced with a proper external source as soon as one is available.

This article is part of a series on
Halo 2 cut content

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Cut content

Early script
Cut dialogue
Cut enemies and ambient life
Cut equipment
Cut gamemodes
Cut levels
Cut vehicles
Cut weapons

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Development

Halo 2 development
Concept art
Design documentation
Storyboards
Title updates
E3 campaign demo
E3 multiplayer demo

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To check out cut content for other Halo games, see here!

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During the development of Halo 2, a number of creature designs were considered for inclusion by Bungie to serve the role of enemies, ambient AI and other miscellaneous NPCs. Not all of these concepts made it to full 3D development.

Ambient life

Space jellyfish

The "space jellyfish" is a deleted species of ambient life which was to be featured in Halo 2. According to Dave Dunn, the space jellyfish was planned to appear in the campaign level The Arbiter (then known by the name alphagasgiant). It was conceptually based on hypothetical lifeforms which might exist in the atmospheres of gas giants such as Jupiter. Dunn was planning to have the space jellyfish make sounds which he described as "bloop bloop". However, another Bungie employee deemed the concept too preposterous, resulting in it being cut from the game. However, its model is still present in the Halo 2 games files under the filename "Space_Blimp".

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  The space blimp.

Covenant

Comm Grunt

In the deltatemple.hsc file in the Halo 2 Editing Kit, a new type of Unggoy referred to as a Comm Grunt is mentioned by Cortana. Based on the rest of her dialogue, it appears that the Grunt would have functioned similarly to a mobile alarm; alerting the rest of the Covenant to John-117's presence during a cut stealth sequence in the level.

Disintegrator Hunters

In the files for Halo 2 for Windows Vista can be found several audio samples under the pathway sound\weapons\hunter_cannon\hunter_cannon_loop. The files; named z_disintegrator_fire have three components; one for the weapon fire starting, one looping and one for the weapon fire ending. The names seem to reference the Disintegrator weapon cut from Halo 2, seeming to indicate that at some point in development a Hunter enemy variant equipped with the Disintegrator weapon was planned for inclusion in the game.

Jackal shield variations

This series of sketches done by animator John Butkus in December 2002-January 2003 depict some alternative ideas for creative ways that a Jackal could use its shield gauntlet. These include collecting the energy of weapons fired at it to fire back at attackers, alternate animations for the shield deployment, and a shield effect similar to the Drop shield armour ability later featured in Halo: Reach. It is unlikely any of these ideas progressed into full production. Early design documentation for Halo 2 (detailed in full here) depicts an intent by the team at Bungie to have the shields be equippable by the player; were this to have been developed, these abilities may have been player-useable too.

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  Sketch 1.
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  Sketch 2.
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  Sketch 3.

Sharquoi

Main article: Sharquoi

Originally intended for inclusion in Halo: Combat Evolved, the Sharquoi are originally descended from the Drinniol - a species originally appearing in the Marathon franchise. The Sharquoi's concept art was featured in the Limited Collector's Edition behind the scenes documentary, while storyboards featuring them were later showcased. The storyboards in question showcase the Sharquoi as one of many species depicted on the Covenant murals intended to be used in the opening cutscene for Sacred Icon.

The Sharquoi were saved from being rendered non-canon thanks to the release of Conversations from the Universe, with the Sharquoi mentioned in passing in a conversation between two Elites. The 2017 novel Halo: Envoy later expanded on the Sharquoi and their in-universe mythos.

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  The Sharquoi depicted in a mural.
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  The full storyboard for the Stone of Union.

Flood

Flood juggernaut

Main article: Flood Juggernaut

A player facing down a Flood Juggernaut in Halo 2.

The Juggernaut's model and AI are still present in the game files, allowing the NPC to be added to gameplay via modding, similar to the Huragok in Halo: Combat Evolved. The Juggernaut stands nearly twice as tall as a Spartan or an Elite. It has two large tentacles that can kill the player character with only one hit on Legendary difficulty. The player can survive this hit on l